Session 4 - August 6, Jennifer Jung-Kim, UCLA

[Celeste Modster]

Hey there Marcos, I agree that this topic would be great for Middle to High School aged students. I could see creating lessons on Self Esteem, Celebrating Individuality and Standing For a Cause or Supporting a Movement might be great focus lessons where students share  opinions and reflections about Photographer Jeon Bora's documentation of the "Escape THe Corset".

This movement depicts South Korean women's rejection of the country's standard for beauty. What a bold move. Students might discuss their definition of beauty and what is considered beautiful in South Korea. The reprecussions of the women's rebellion resulted in losses of jobs and harrassment. The students might discuss whether of not they would have participated in the cause. This article is a great lead in to a class discussion that unmasks the pressure young girls encounter when attempting to fulfill the societal norms for beauty. Monopolized by the multi-billion dollar beauty industry, advertisement media and marketing endorse images that communicate the rubrics for beauty. South Korea's billboards are innondated with images of what is considered and promoted as beautiful. Here in the US, beauty is defined similarly. The bravery of the woman in South Korean could inspire others to redefine beauty by thir own individual standard. 

[Zoey McKinney]

I had never thoguht about the use of the term "comfort women," but you are absolutely right - it disguises the truth of what happened to these women. I looked into this term a little bit and found a lot of interesting information -

From https://newvoices.org.au/volume-2/who-are-the-ianfu-comfort-women/: "The term itself is translated from the Japanese abbreviation Ianfu,5 hereafter referred to in this paper. As the Chinese characters 慰 安 [i : an ] (comfort or solace) and 婦 [fu] (woman or wife) suggest, the women’s literal purpose was to offer solace and comfort to Japan’s Imperial Forces." It seems that the euphemism came from the Japanese word for these women. 

From http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20120711001089: "Kim Dong-hee, secretary general for a Seoul-based civic group Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sex Slavery by Japan, said that in Korean, the euphemism carries the connotation that they are the victims of forced sex slavery. But, when translated into English, it seems to lose that meaning." So it seems something might be lost in translation. This article mentions that in 2012, Hillary Clinton apparently asked a State Department official to use the term "enforced sex slaves" instead, which is interesting. 

Finally, an article from December: https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2175903/comfort-women-anger-japan-newspaper-alters-description-second This one talks about The Japan Times' decision to redefine "comfort women" as well as "forced labor." An interesting quote: "Editors in the English-language division of Japan’s public broadcaster NHK are banned from using the term “sex slaves” and must instead refer to them as “people referred to as wartime comfort women." This level of denial so many years later is upsetting and frustrating to me. 

[Frederic Vial]

First off, thanks for sharing your personal experience.

Your response is extremely interesting to me because I feel it's important to have some vetting and/or response to filmmakers and their work.  So often we are told at the beginning of a Hollywood movie "based on a true story" and I'm left to wonder the fiction vs. non-fiction aspects of the filmmaker's work.  In other words, what is embellished as opposed to what actually occurred?  What is the "interpretation" of the filmmaker and what is historically accurate?  This is why the media and, in this case, filmmakers have a tremendous responsibility to report the truth, void of their own biased viewpoints.  As a history teacher, this lack of verification is troubling.  How is one to ascertain the truth if it is simply revised as one sees fit?  I'm not suggesting the filmmaker "made-up" the content of the film.  I have not seen the film but intend to do so online and use it as per the film essay assignment.  I'm simply questioning whether a series of isolated incidents that make for great drama ought to be suggested as the norm.  Clearly, your experience as someone who can be considered a "primary source" suggests differently.  Is this viewpoint shared in the film to offer the sense of balance you're suggesting is missing in the documentary?  I try to teach my students to exmine both sides of a coin before reaching any conclusions that often enforce certain belief systems they may or may not have.  Documentary films, especially by today's journalistic standards, need to be examined carefully.  The film medium is so powerful and influencing that it cannot simply be taken at face-value without a process of verification, unless one is ok with certain details or truths potentially being stretched or created for "artistic" purposes.  To me, the indoctrinating aspects of such a medium can often be as dangerous as the "cause" it attempts to bring light to.  The balance between the two is often where the truth lies and, I feel, in this case Lin makes the case for it.  

[Amy Chen]

Great! I'll be sure to look it up.

[Jonathan Tam]

I always love hearing from Professor Jung-Kim because I feel as though the content that she teachers resonates the most with our students given the time period that she targets. Her approach brings us always into modern day and I think that her seminar will be the biggest influence in the lesson that I end up designing. Especially as students these days have grown so fondly of hip hop, a conversation I tend to have with students is the danger of consuming culture. Because as we listen to music - however misogynistic, sexist and racist it may be - we need to realize that we are consuming and actively participating in the growth of the culture. Whether we act on the lyrics or the ideas or not, we provide the mass that these cultures thrive on. And K-pop is no different. From the outside in western culture, we may think of it as this foreign and whimsical thing, but we can't neglect the fact that even k-pop has consequences as a culture - namely in the beauty standards that they place upon people.

[Madeline George]

And.... after our visit to the Korean Culural Center and what our host had to say about how she felt entering Korea... It makes me really appreciate what these women are protesting against!  It’s probably really difficult to be that not perfectly “Barbie” girl in a land that everyone is  manically obsessed with becoming.  I thought the perfect beauty culture was bad in the US.  Wow.   So the struggle against that perfectionism must be really difficult.   I think Celeste is correct... the word for it is Bravery.  

[Sophia Kang]

Many of the readings can fit into my lesson plans while raising some intriguing questions about the #MeToo movement. Although I would not bring up this topic lightheartedly in a classroom, I think it is useful for attempting to understand how a set of beliefs affects a society at its roots. The "Escape the Corset" article had some quotes for discussions of gender:

• “Traditionally, she says, Korean women are taught that beauty is their biggest asset. By getting married, they can exchange that asset for social and economic status. Even today, such views affect women's options and choices related to careers, marriage and motherhood. Rejecting beauty standards leads some women to rebel against an entire social structure, she says, and that means boycotting romance, marriage, sex and childbirth.”
• “But she says her escape from the corset has brought mixed results. On the one hand, she has found that men now treat her as an equal. They give her access to social circles and information previously forbidden to her.”

 

The second quote suggests that when one breaks away from social standards, she is excused from her gender responsibilities, and is accepted into the oppressor's circle.

[Sophia Kang]

The Cosmetic Surgery article raises many adverse reactions and attempts to negatively view the country's values, but I think it's all the more important to be inquistive and curious about how these standards came about. If I were to use this article in my classroom, rather than using the article purely for shock value and ranking the values of one culture as superior to another, I would use the questions raised as a springboard for more inquiry. If beauty is a form of cultural citizenship and social capital, I would like my students to explore how that looks in various cultures through international airline commercials.. where women are often used as capital, and in some cases bikini clad women are used to entice travelers in choosing their destinations.

[Ann Huyhn]

In the article “BTS versus Blackpink,” readers are introduced to one of the biggest K pop bands to grace North America, BTS.  They are so famous that they have had collaborations with many singers and have been compared to The Beatles. In my classroom, I would like to play snippets of BTS’ song for my students so that they can understand the fascination with them.  I would also show them pictures of this boy band so that they know how they look. Hopefully, a discussion can ensue about the way they are portrayed in the media.

[Ann Huyhn]

Professor Kim’s lecture about South Korea and the changes that women have achieved is remarkable.  Women in South Korea now have many rights. They can divorce and participate in democracy, and choose to get married later.  However, they still have a long way to go like the women in America. I would like to talk about the first woman lawyer, Lee Tai Young with my students.  We would study her and look at her career.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I really like this idea for a lesson.  I think I will incorporate it in my middle school course I like the lessons on female behavior code and virtue written by Ban Zhao.  While today many women still "sacrifice their own freedom and happiness for their family and children" as you write, many wives and mothers today in modern countries, do the contrary, juggle many roles simultaneously.  In LA today, the more common case among women is the impressive juggling act they perform as professionals while raising children and caring for their families.  I am planning on creating a lesson comparing the roles of women during different periods in history in China (Ban Zhao) and the US (the 20th-21st century).  Thank you for the idea!

 

 

 

 

[Ann Huyhn]

 

The article,” Empowered by #MeToo, a new generation fights sexual abuse in South Korea’s schools,” is about how students are speaking out about the abuse they suffered from their teachers.  As an educator, this is appalling, but at the same time, the rise of the #MeToo movement is empowering. It is empowering because women can now speak up about the suffering they have had to endure for the longest time.  I would like my students to learn to speak up for themselves and voice their concerns if things are not right. We are trying to teach them to have skills that can be transferred and this is probably one of the most crucial skills to have, the freedom of speech as long as it is truthful.

 

[Ann Huyhn]

The film, “One Child Nation,” talks about the one-child policy enforced by the Chinese government in order to control the growing population in China.  In the film, the director decided to go back to China and talked to her villagers about the impact that the policy has had on the Chinese family dynamics.  It was a very sad film because the people who had to enforce the policy felt a lot of guilt. Due to the one-child policy, many Chinese babies were adopted overseas, but there were also many baby fetuses that were killed.  This film would be very difficult to watch with my students. I think that I would talk about why many families prefer to have a male baby over a female baby, a Confucian ideology.

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

I agree that this article can be used with high school students to discuss fitting in and what it means to look "normal." I did not see how I could use this article with my students until I read your post. Now I realize I can use it in my restorative justice elective to discuss peer pressure and beauty standards. I also think we can use social media such as IG in addition to this article to discuss our extreme standards online through the use of editing photos and using makeup and poses to "fit in" online. 

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

Hi Joy, thank you for sharing your student's experiences. I can only imagine how many young women go through plastic surgery due to pressure from parents. I am glad to hear that your student is able to stand her ground, but I keep wondering what this would do to a teenage girls self-esteem! In Iran, plastic surgery is also very popular, and parents will often encourage or support their children in getting plastic surgery. Though it is not as common as in South Korea, and not allowed in children under 18, many parents pay for a nose job as soon as their child graduates high school. My parents sent my sister to visit family and get plastic surgery in the summer after high school as well. 

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